GREENVILLE, N.C. — So that’s what it looks like when the Houston Cougars put it all together.

For weeks, the Cougars insisted they just needed time. Time for the new coaching staff to get its message across. Time to get young players up to speed. Time to allow some key injuries to heal.

Well, the Cougars certainly put it all together Saturday, opening up Conference USA play by destroying No. 23 East Carolina 41-24 before 43,641 stunned fans at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Not many among the sellout crowd remained for the final few minutes of the Cougars’ first win over a ranked team since 1996, when they knocked off No. 20 Southern Miss.

The reeling Cougars needed this one.

Before they could have a complete performance, the Cougars first had to pick up the pieces after losing three straight games heading into Saturday. And they essentially were playing their fourth straight road game after Hurricane Ike sent them out of town for a week, bumping a home game on Sept. 13 against Air Force up to Dallas.

Take a bow, defense

But all was forgotten as UH dominated ECU on both sides of the ball.

“I couldn’t be more proud of how this team responded today, based on everything we’ve been through,” Cougars coach Kevin Sumlin said. “To go on the road in a packed house and beat a ranked opponent is a big deal.”

The high-wire offense gets most of the ink for the Cougars (2-3, 1-0 C-USA), but on Saturday, the defense was taking most of the bows after completely smothering the Pirates (3-2, 1-1).

The Cougars forced three turnovers, held East Carolina to 275 yards, and limited the Pirates to a futile 1-of-13 on third-down conversions.

“We felt like we had to come out early and get on them,” said UH senior defensive end Phillip Hunt, who led a high-pressure attack that limited ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney to 100 yards passing. “We wanted to get the season turned around on this game.”

The Cougars certainly impressed East Carolina coach Skip Holtz.

“I give Houston a lot of credit,” he said. “They are a good football team, and they came in here and executed. Offensively, we couldn’t get anything going. At times it seemed like a comedy of errors out there.”

The Cougars’ offense got a lift from freshman Bryce Beall’s career-high 132 yards rushing yards and two touchdowns. He’s the first back to surpass 100 yards against the Pirates this season.

“I just kept finding good creases and cutting off them,” he said.

Beall supplied a balance to quarterback Case Keenum’s passing, which found big-play targets in Patrick Edwards (146 receiving yards, including a 24-yard touchdown) and Kierrie Johnson (104 yards, including an 84-yard strike), as the Cougars racked up 621 yards of offense.

But everyone was talking about the defense after this win, including Keenum.

Staying balanced

“I can’t say enough about how well the defense played,” said Keenum, who threw for 399 yards and three touchdowns. “When you see the defense make plays like they did, that’s just incredible.”

The Cougars were far from perfect. Four turnovers — three fumbles and an interception that ECU’s Emanuel Davis returned 24 yards for a touchdown — kept the Pirates afloat, as duly noted by Sumlin.

“Any time you turn the ball over that much, that’s not putting it all together,” he said. “We have a lot of things to correct, but I do like our energy and how we attack in the game right now.”